Virginia Payne

Show Count: 124Series Count: 3Role: Old Time Radio StarBorn: December 7, 1909Old Time Radio, LocationDied: February 10, 1977, Cincinnati, Ohio

Virginia Payne(December 7, 1909 - February 10, 1977 inCincinnati, Ohio) was anAmericanradioactress, best known for her 27-year role as Ma Perkins. In 1939, in addition toMa Perkins, she took over the role of Mrs. Carter on the radio soap operaThe Carters of Elm Street.

Noting the 25th anniversary ofMa Perkins,Timedescribed Payne in 1957:

Like other daytime heroines, Ma neither drinks, smokes, takes snuff or has affairs with men. Unlike Ma, Cincinnati-born Virginia Payne, 47, has never been married, downs an occasional whisky sour and makes up to $50,000 a year—more than any other actress in daytime broadcasting. Her present writer (she has had ten) lived on the Riviera for two years, now counts his money onCape Cod. A devout Roman Catholic with an M.A. in literature (University of Cincinnati), Virginia sheds Ma's vocabulary of "ain'ts," "folks" and "Land o' Goshens" with ease, but insists on making personal appearances in wig, makeup, frumpy clothes and spectacles, "though I often feel like a great imposter." She is an accomplished pianist, lives alone in a posh East Side Manhattan apartment decorated withDuveen-collected oil paintings, accumulates antiques, and grows roses (two varieties have been named for her).

After the long run ofMa Perkinscame to an end, Payne did theater. She appeared on Broadway in theBetty Comden-Adolph Greenmusical comedy,Fade Out - Fade In(1964–65), and Paul Zindel's play,And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little(1971).